My Well Pump Won't Shut Off (Silverdale, WA)

What usually causes well pump running constantly in Silverdale

Start with a waterlogged pressure tank. Rapid short-cycling, on and off every few seconds, means the tank has lost its air charge. Around Ridgetop and Silverdale Way the housing dates from the subdivision boom after the Kitsap Mall opened, which makes this the likeliest answer to well pump running constantly.

Then a failed check valve. Lets water drain back down the well when the pump stops. We've seen it near Silverdale Way more than once, usually on gray polybutylene from the 1980s.

And a leak on the buried line: long poly well lines go brittle and split, often at a rock pressing on the pipe or a bend. Less common on Ridgetop and Island Lake cul-de-sacs, but we've found it near Island Lake.

First steps on a Silverdale property

On the Ridgetop, Island Lake and Bucklin Hill subdivisions we expect gray poly, and it fails by splitting along the pipe rather than at a fitting, which gives a distinct acoustic signature.

First steps for well pump running constantly near the Kitsap Mall: walk the line's route for a green stripe or soft ground. Note the rhythm: slow steady cycling or rapid short-cycling. Close the house main shutoff and see if the cycling continues. Then call; the rest is a locate through a winter water table close to the surface, not guesswork.

How we fix it

When it's the buried line, the fix in Silverdale is well line leak detection: we trace the line, repair or replace through dense hardpan up on Ridgetop at the marked spot on tight side yards full of irrigation, and locate acoustically. Pipe locator and the mini excavator ride on the first trip so it's finished the same visit.

Island Lake, the Kitsap Mall, Anderson Hill Road: near any of them, well pump running constantly gets the same crew and the same equipment. Our home base, day or night, with the mini excavator on the trailer for 60- to 120-foot subdivision runs.